The Energen Pilipinas Under-16 squad unearthed a gem in Jay Alejandro as they leaned on his explosive performance to down Japan, 83-72, and advance to the quarterfinals as one of top two seeds in the FIBA-Asia u-16 Championship at the Kanh Hoa Sports Center in Vietnam.
Alejandro, a 16-year-old graduating student at Malayan High, torched the Japanese with 34 points on an impressive 16-of-28 shooting from the field he spiked with 10 rebounds, four assists and a steal to practically carry the Filipinos, who finished unscathed in five games in the first two rounds, on his shoulders.
It was also a win that clinched the Nationals the No. 1 seed in Group F and an interesting quarterfinal showdown with West Asian champion Iraq, which wound up No. 4 in Group E with a 2-3 (win-loss) slate, in today’s quarterfinals set at 8 p.m. (PH time).
Equally important is that Energen Pilipinas found a way to stop Japan’s top outside gunners in Yasunori Aoki, Daiki Kaneko and Taisei Shirato, who are among the three, top three-point gunners in the tournament but were held to just two triples combined for lowly 11 points overall.
Former Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu’s Adven Jess Diputado and Hubert Cani, remnants of the team that swept its way to last August’s Southeast Asian Basketball Association U-16 title in Banting, Malaysia with a winning margin of 38 points, provided ample support with 14 and 10 points, respectively.
The quarters pairings pit defending champion China (5-0) against Saudi Arabia (2-3), South Korea (4-1) vs. Indonesia (3-2) and Japan (4-1) vs. Lebanon (2-3).